Rise of the Planet of the Apes opened this past weekend with relatively positive reviews from many critics and sources, successfully nabbing a “Fresh” 81% rating from Rotten Tomatoes and a solid 8.0 from IMDb. It is clear that this film was a highly anticipated prequel to the famous Planet of the Apes franchise, and for the few who are not familiar with the franchise, the Rise was a curious introduction to the hairy apocalyptic universe. However, that is all the acclamation this film deserves.

Franco and Pinto

The Rise does contain some well known talent, such as James Franco who plays the emotionally driven scientist, Will, and John Lithgow, who plays Will’s father, Charles, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease. Other familiar talents include Freida Pinto, best known for her role in Slumdog Millionaire, Tom Felton who played Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter film series, and Andy Serkis who is popular for his role as the creature Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. This mixture of cast mates, including Brian Cox and Tom Felton, does achieve some fine moments on film, and the digital manipulation of Andy Serkis to create the ape, Caesar, is quite remarkable, but other than that, the film has little to offer.

Caesar did something bad

Due to the fact that the Rise is a prequel, we know what ultimately happens before we even take our seats in the theater, so we are just waiting to see how it happens, similarly to how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader in Star Wars: Episode III. Therefore, it is the journey that is supposed to fully entertain, not the outcome. But in this case, the Rise does not live up to its epic outcome. The desperate Cal grad (Go Bears!…) attempts to develop a cure for Alzheimer’s disease to save his father, while his boss Steven Jacobs, played by David Oyelowo, takes advantage of the potentially, very profitable drug, which leads to the demise of humans and the rise of the apes. In addition, a lot of the screen time is taken up by the apes’ interactions with each other, which is necessary for the plot, but very boring to watch. If I wanted to see CGI on CGI action I would have bought a ticket to see The Smurfs instead.

Those aren't real monkeys?!

Despite my critiques on the predictability of the plot and the tiresome grunting of the apes, the Rise did well in the box office results coming in first for the weekend and grossing $78 million worldwide. Due to this relative success, there are rumors of a possible (and unnecessary) sequel. A movie depicting the mass extinction of the human race due to a deadly virus is hardly a film I plan to waste any of my time on. Plus, it looks like they have already made this film. It’s called Contagion. Go see it on September 9th if you really have nothing else to do.